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Wednesday, November 29, 2017

The First White Settlers in Tennessee

It is not often we have an ancestor who has been thoroughly and historically documented. I am fortunate to have 6th
great-grandparents (and their immediate descendants) – William Bean (1721-1782) and Lydia Russell
Bean (1726-1788) – whose frontier life in Tennessee has been thoroughly examined.

William and Lydia are known as the first
permanent European-American settlers in what is today Tennessee.William was of Scottish descent, and Lydia
was of English descent. They were both born in Virginia, a crown colony, and married
in 1741.

Daniel
Boone was no stranger to the Bean Family, having hunted before with members of
William Bean’s family. Both were frontiersmen and longhunters.

Longhunter - Google image

William Bean was a known associate of Daniel
Boone and a fellow longhunter. A longhunter was an 18th-century explorer
and hunter who made expeditions into the American frontier wilderness for as
much as six months at a time, collecting animal skins and drying meat to sell in the colonies. Most “long hunts” started near Chilhowie,
Virginia (found in the southwest corner of the state). The hunters were, for
the most part, land owners. They would be gone for as much as six months at a
time, usually over winter. The information gathered by the longhunters were
critical in the early settlement of Tennessee and Kentucky.Many times, the long- hunters would be employed
by land surveyors and to guide settlers into the new lands. [1]

Grainger County Tennessee Historic Society

The picture to the right shows two hunters standing together looking over a
valley belowClinch Mountain. The men depicted are supposed to be William BeanandDaniel Boone.
The hunters were looking for fresh water and a place to camp for the night. Both
men liked the valley because of its wildlife, fertile soil, and tall timber.

In 1769, William built a cabin close to
the junction of Boone's Creek and the Watauga River, near what is today Johnson
City, Tennessee. Bean had visited the site with Boone when they were exploring
as agents for Richard Henderson, a land speculator who later played an
important role in the early settlement of Tennessee. [2]Later that year, Russell Bean, the
first child of permanent European-American settlers was born in Tennessee, was
born there.[3] The location of the
Bean cabin became important in the development of the area. Major roads (highways
25E and 11W) came through the
location that became known as Bean Station.

Google image

William
was considered one of the best gun makers of his time. His sons inherited his
talent. Together they founded a dynasty of gunsmiths, horseshoes, wedding
rings, well pumps, and many other items that were all done in theBean’s blacksmith shop in Bean Station.

As we can imagine, frontier life was
not easy – it was dangerous. One of William’s daughters, Judy Bean, was killed
by Cherokee Indians; and his wife, Lydia, was captured by Indians. She was
later released. However, those are stories for another time.